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Nano-gap plasmonics: a bridge to the quantum realm

Friday, March 9, 2018

Presenter

Cristian Ciracì

Metals support surface plasmons at optical wavelengths and have the ability to localize light to sub-wavelength regions. Nano-gapplasmonic systems-in which two or more metallic nanoparticles are separated only few nanometer from each other by an insulatingspacer-have unique properties that make it useful for a variety of processes depending on the nanoparticle shape. Nanospheres that arecoupled to a film, for example, have been predicted to produce enormous field enhancements-as much as thousands of times that of theincident radiation-in the separating region between nanoparticle and film. For the narrowest (<1 nm) gaps, light can be so tightlyconfined that the nonlocality associated with the dielectric response of the metal and quantum effects can have a strong impact on thescattering properties of the system, placing strict bounds on the ultimate field enhancement.